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User blog:Thantosiet/Mermaid Secrets: A Review
Mermaid Secrets is currently early in its second season. The Plot Over breakfast, sisters Lilly and Eclipse recall the recurring dream they've both been having for the last week or so: swimming into a strange cave. They go for a swim, and discover that same cave, where they stay until after sunset. When the half-moon rises, both girls transform into mermaids. They work to keep their secret, though it's not too hard, since they're not especially clumsy. The light of the full moon forces them to pop and keep tails all night, but it doesn't do anything to their minds. The trouble comes from elsewhere: while the two are out at the park, a house fire destroys their home, ending the first season. In the next season, the family's gotten their new house, and both girls have new tails for no explained reason. The Characters The sisters are fairly convincing as sisters: they bicker, they disagree sometimes, but generally they're amiable. Eclipse's main character tag is that she's obsessed with bagels. She's the more reluctant and slightly stuck-up of the two, and Lilly often has to wheedle her into doing what she wants. Daddy Matt steals the show. He's funny, he's got a lot of energy, but he can be serious too--though given the real-life trouble he was facing, that probably wasn't difficult. Technicals These mermaids have no special powers! Hooray! No scenes of them pretending that jump cuts are magic, no using their powers to torture their enemies and annoying relatives, no throwing in random new superpowers instead of having a plot, no totally forgetting about their powers two episodes later! The camera work is pretty solid, both under and above water. Thanks most likely to a fear of copyright infringement, the first season almost totally lacks music, which makes a few of the montages dull, but it's not too bad. The tails are homemade, but still look very good, even if the fabric is thin enough that you can see the bikini bottoms sometimes. Their magical cave is probably a hot tub, but they only ever show it underwater, so it's much harder to tell. Kudos for using your brains. Best Moment "House Fire!" Season 1, Episode 5 MSs5.png MSs6.png|Though it might have been nice for their Dad to just say what happened, not leave them in suspense. I feel kind of guilty for this. I mean, the family actually lost their house in this fire, and it took a while for them to get settled again. But they handled it so well! They built up to the big reveal gradually, and of course the acting was thoroughly convincing. The wander around the damaged house really hammers in just how serious this is (though I was a little worried about whether or not the exploring was safe). Everyone is subdued and serious. I don't think I've ever gotten this close to empathy for the characters of a mermaid show before. MSs7.png|Not pictured: parents. Because they weren't here. For some reason. MSs8.png Even though I feel a little bad for saying it, they could have gotten more out of this fire. Not during the move, that's asking too much, but getting settled in real life didn't have to mean their characters were okay right away. They could have done an episode where they looked at a new house, or were moving in, or anything other than brushing it all aside in the very first scene of the very next episode. Still, the episode by itself, compared to most mermaid shows, is kind of a punch in the stomach. It really stands out. Guess it just goes to show you that you can get something good, even if it's small like this, out of a tragedy. Worst Moment "Talent Showdown" Season 1, Episode 3 The girls get into an argument over who can swim better, now that they're mermaids and Lilly's improved. Well, "argument" maybe be a bit grand for "I may even be better than you now." "Oh yeah?" "Yeah." They decide to test this with . . . a talent show. Not a race, not an endurance contest, a talent show. MSs1.png This is the main problem with the show: they don't really understand how plot works, even for a YouTube mermaid show. Most at least stick to one random event per episode, but not here. Mermaid Secrets focuses on one plotlike event for most of the episode, and then throws another in at the very last minute which doesn't go anywhere. The credits mention editing and camera work, but no writer, and it really shows. The thing is, this plot could have worked. The beginning of the episode establishes that the family is on vacation, and the girls are afraid of being forced to swim and getting exposed. (Which makes the swim in the very next scene a little strange.) Why not come up with the talent show as a way to keep the family occupied and dry? MSs2.png|Actual lyrics: "'Cos I'm a free spirit! I like to smile a lot and have fun..." MSs3.png|Eclipse's real talent: playing the air violin MSs4.png The talent show itself is pretty hard to watch. Lilly sings a song she wrote herself, "Free Spirit," and I'll just say I don't think she knows what a free spirit is. Eclipse dances, which might have worked in the original episode, but it was re-edited to remove the music (they were worried about copyright infringement), so now it just looks kind of silly. Both of these sequences go on for far too long. Daddy Matt's the only redeeming thing about this episode: he's clearly having a lot of fun. They also end it by having the viewers vote for which girl wins, which works as a method of audience participation, but in-universe makes no sense. Naturally, it's a tie, meaning we're right back where we started, and making the entire episode completely pointless. Feel free to skip this one. Crazy Fan Theories Daddy Matt knows the girls have tails--maybe he's a merman or something nonhuman himself, and saw this coming. It'd explain why he named one of his daughters "Eclipse." He's too smart to not notice; he's just pretending to be oblivious until they're ready to tell him. Because he's awesome. Lilly changes from a pink tail to a yellow tail in between seasons with no explanation, nor does anyone even seem to notice. (Eclipse also gets a tail change, but I didn't realize initially, since it's the same color as the old tail). However, Lilly's always been eager to visit the cave they gained their powers. Maybe she went there herself, perhaps to get away from the new house struggle, and underwent another transformation there? Or both girls had a growth spurt and shed their tails like a snake changing its skin, I don't know. So, How's It Hold Up? I like. No special powers, and the mermaids pop tails almost every single episode, so it really feels like a mermaid show. It's clear they're not just trying to mimic H2O because they think that's how it's supposed to be. It looks and sounds very good, particularly in the second season when they put music over the montages. On the other hand, the plots could use some serious improvement. They seem to have good ideas sometimes, but things fall flat in execution, particularly in pacing. Things just sort of happen to the girls. Eclipse and Lilly's different personalities could be emphasized and used to create plots--and a love of bagels does not count as personality. This show's much easier on the eyes and ears (and suspension of disbelief) than several others I've been following. Now if they could just get a writer . . . And, After the Review Went Up . . . Both plotting and pacing have smoothed out. The third episode of the second season, Wishes, has a solid and suspenseful plot with a cliffhanger I genuinely cannot guess the answer to. Everything's visible and audible, and the characters' actions make sense. This show may not be the quickest to update, but from the looks of things, new episodes will be quality stuff. Category:Blog posts Category:Reviews